Iranian VP Leads Delegation to Erbil Economic Forum
By John Lee. Iran’s Vice President for International Affairs, Ali Saeedlou, led a high level political and economic delegation representing about one hundred Iranian companies to the Kurdistan Region to participate in a high profile business conference today. The Iranian – Kurdistan Region Economic Forum follows a visit to Iran by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani […]
Iraq to Renegotiate Russian Arms Deal
By John Lee. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh (pictured) has announced that the country is to renegotiate the recent $4.2-billion weapons deal with Russia: "It will renegotiate with Russia to put an end to suspicions of corruption in the weapons deal", he said. The turnaround follows the ouster of Russia's defense minister earlier this week, […]
Majnoon to Exceed 200,000 bpd Next Year
By John Lee. Shell's Majnoon oilfield in Southern Iraq is expected to exceed 200,000 bpd in the third quarter of 2013, above the level of 170,000 bpd needed to start recovering costs, according to Reuters. Majnoon started a shutdown in June for maintenance and to bring new production facilities online. Under the Majnoon development plan […]
Genel Takes Control of Miran Block
By John Lee. Genel Energy has announced that it will take an extra 49 percent of the Miran Block in Iraqi Kurdistan as repayment for a $294 million loan issued in August to Heritage Oil. The company previously acquired a 26 percent working interest in the Miran Block from Heritage on 23 August 2012, taking […]
Iraq to Produce 5m cu. meters of Natural Gas in 5 Years
By John Lee. Iraq's Oil Ministry has unveiled its five-year plan for the development of the country’s natural gas riches. Azzaman reports that the plan calls for production of five million cubic meters of gas by the end of the five-year period, with new exploratory blocks up for grabs. An oil ministry spokesman said that […]
Iraq to buy 50,000 Dell PCs for Schools
By John Lee. Thousands of Iraqi schoolchildren are entering classrooms equipped with new Dell technology that will help improve how they access information, and ultimately, work and compete with their peers around the world. This development is the result of a close collaboration between the Iraqi Ministry of Education (MOE) and Dell, who assessed the […]
Chinese Company to Supply Iraqi Railways
By John Lee. The Ministry of Transportation's General Company for Railways has reached an agreement with a Chinese supplier to provide equipment for the Iraqi rail system, according to a report from AIN. Iraq Business News believes the Chinese company is China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR). (Source: AIN)
Kurdish-Arab Feud: Russians and Exxon Making Things Worse
By Abdul-Khaleq Dosky. This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The tension between Iraqi Kurdistan and the leadership in Baghdad doesn’t seem to have diminished lately. NIQASH asked the Iraqi Kurdish why the Russians and Exxon […]
Al-Araji: Iraq Needs $1 Trillion to Rebuild
By John Lee. Iraq needs up to $1 trillion over the next 10 years to rebuild its crumbling infrastructure and battered economy, the head of the National Investment Commission (NIC), Sami al-Araji (pictured), said at the Baghdad International Fair. "We are talking about the reconstruction of Iraq, a minimum requirement of money ... is about […]
Iraq Pressures Gazprom to Quit Kurdistan
By John Lee. The Iraqi Government has reportedly told Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom, to abandon oil deals in Kurdistan or face losing the lucrative Badra oilfield contract. The field, which is estimated to have reserves of 100 million barrels, is being developed by Gazprom (30%), Korea’s KOGAS (22.5%), […]
Ex-Im Bank Approves $35m Loan Guarantee to Devco
By John Lee. The board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) voted to guarantee a JPMorgan Chase loan totaling $35 million to Devco International LLC (Devco) of Tulsa, Okla., for the design and construction of a sulfur purification plant in Mosul, Iraq. Ex-Im Bank's financing will support approximately 380 U.S. jobs, […]
Ex Central Bank Chief Accuses Govt
By John Lee. Sinan al-Shabibi (pictured), the former head Iraq's Central Bank who was removed for suspected mismanagement and currency manipulation, has dismissed the charges against him as baseless and trumped up. Speaking to AFP, he said authorities had compromised the bank's independence to access its reserves, adding that the government had been "spoiled" by […]